Thursday, November 4, 2010

Another Conservative Claims That His Party is Undemocratic

There has been a pattern with the Conservative Party and how they choose their candidates, and a common complaint is that it is undemocratic.

And those complaints don't come from the opposition or even the media.

They come from their own party members.

In Calgary they have been trying to get rid of Rob Anders for years, but Harper can't quit him. Tim Uppal was not the choice of his riding association, and in fact he wasn't even from the riding.

Mark Warner was out simply because he attended an Aids conference. David Marler because he spoke at the hearing over his party's "in and out" election financing scheme. Gordon Landon for exposing pork-barrelling.

This is not a party that believes in the democratic process.

And former MP Inky Mark agrees.

A former MP says he and many other Conservatives in his Manitoba riding are upset with how the party handled finding his replacement, calling the nomination process there undemocratic ... [only] a single nomination contestant – Robert Sopuck – was ever recognized by the party, despite other local Tories wanting to run. Mr. Mark said he complained about irregularities in the process to his Manitoba caucus colleagues at least twice.

“After spending over 13 years in the riding, not allowing the membership base to have a say in who should replace me is just not right, and not one of [my fellow MPs] … would utter one single response,” he said. “If you believe in democracy of any kind, it's just not right.” Former riding president Wayne Mathison was one longtime local Conservative who had intended to throw his hat into the ring but he met with roadblocks along the way.

Of course, it wouldn't much matter if they made a turnip their candidate. Once they get to the Hill any notion of democracy is gone forever. In fact the turnip is perfect. It won't want to talk and will never question anything Harper does.